Citrus fruit squeezer

ABSTRACT

A disposable one piece plastic container for a cut piece of citrus fruit which comprises a hinge member integrally connecting two semi-circular parts, each having a semi-circular rim around the outer semi-circular portion thereof, one of said parts having a semi-circular raised portion with walls parallel to one of said semi-circular rims to enter the cut piece of fruit inside the rind, the semi-circular rim on the other semi-circular part, entering the channel formed between said parallel parts to prevent backflow of the fruit juice, and an opening in said plastic hinge member.

United States Patent Stein 1 51 June 13, 1972 CITRUS FRUIT SQUEEZER [72]Inventor: Jacob Stein, 210 East Broadway, New

York, NY. 10002 [22] Filed: June 19, 1970 2 1] Appl. No.: 47,737

[52] US. Cl. ..l00/2ll, IOU/234, 146/3 C 51 Im. c1 v.1930!) 5/02 58Field ofSearch 146 39 J, 3 c, 3 J; 24l/l69;

' 100/234, 233, 133, 211; D89/l.l

[56] References 01160 UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,159,096 12/19 4 Tocker 100211 2,707,912 5/1955v Squarcio. ....100 211 3,207,610 9 1965 Belkin 100211 x 2,348,304 5/1944 Nudelman et ...l00/234 X 3,12 ,821 3 1964 Schlidtet a1, ..l0O/21 l X said plastic hinge member.

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 313,348 5/1956 Switzerland 100/234Primary Evaminer-Peter Feldman Attorney-Hammond & Littell ABSTRACT Adisposable one piece plastic container for a cut piece of citrus fruitwhich comprises a hinge member integrally connecting two semi-circularparts, each having a semi-circular 1 rim around the outer semi-circularportion thereof, one of said parts having a semi-circular raised portionwith walls parallel to one of said semi-circular rims to enter the cutpiece of fruit inside the rind, the semicircular rim on the othersemi-circular part, entering the channel formed between said parallelparts to prevent backflow of the fruit juice,-and an opening in 2Claims, 20 Drawing Figures PA'TENTEDJummz 3.669.013

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sum w 4 INVENTOR JACOB S I TEIN ORN CITRUS FRUIT SQUEEZER This inventionrelates to devices for serving juice from lemons, limes, oranges andother citrus fruits so as to avoid the juice squirting in unwanteddirections and soiling the tablecloth and hands of the server or user.Cut lemons, oranges and other citrus fruits are customarily sewed withtea, fish and other foods and beverages and when squeezed to deposit thejuice from the fruit onto the foods or into beverages,.the juice oftensquirts on other people at the table andover the tablecloth and hands ofthe user and a great deal of the juice is wasted.

Prior juice squeezers have usually been made of metal or other rigidmaterials. They are usually made of many separate,

and easily breakable parts, are expensive to make and difficult to cleanfor re-use.

It is one of the objects of this invention to provide a juice squeezerwhich will prevent the juice from squirting in unwanted directions andinsure thatthe juice is deposited in the beverage or on the food forwhich it is intended without simultaneously depositing seeds fromlemons, oranges or other citrus fruits in the food or beverage beingserved.

.Another object of the invention is to provide a juice squeezer madeentirely of food-grade plastic materials such as, for example,polypropylene, Saran wrap or other materials whichare cheap to constructand can either be easily cleaned for re-use or of such low cost astopermit discarding after one use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a juice squeezer which isfree of metal parts which might break, tarnish or be 'difficult toclean.

Another object of the invention is to provide a juice squeezer whichwill prevent contamination of the citrus fruits being squeezed andprevent soiling the users hands, tablecloths, napkins or other adjacenttableware.

Another object of theinvention is to provide a plastic juice squeezerwith an integral plastic hinge connecting the parts of the squeezertogether.

, Another object of the invention is to provide lemon, lime or orangewedges orslices completely enclosed in a discardable plastic containerwhich will protectithe citrus fruit contained therein from oxidation,contamination by the hands of waiters and contaminants from the ,airuntil the juice from the cut citrus fruit is served into the beverage oronto the food for which it is intended.

Various .other objects and advantages of this invention will appear asthis description proceeds.

Referring now to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective plan view of a one piece plastic citrus fruitsqueezer;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along the line 2 2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a portion of a lemon wedge;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view showing a lemon wedge being squeezed inthe squeezer illustrated in FIGS. land 2;

FIG. 5 is a further detail view;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an embodiment for squeezing juice from a roundslice of lemon, lime, orange or the like;

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view of the. device of FIG. 6, partiallyclosed;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a cellophane bag or other plastic enclosureadapted to enclose a lemon wedge to be squeezed;

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view of the squeezer illustrated in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view along the line 10 10 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is another view of the cellophane enclosure illustrated in FIG.8; I

FIG. 12 is a further modification showing a plastic seal on the plasticenclosure;

FIG. 12a is a detail view showing an opening in a cellophane enclosurecovered by a removable tab, for discharging juices from the fruit;

FIG. 13 is a side view of the device of FIG. 12 in closed position;

FIG. 14 is a sectional view on the line 14a 14a of FIG. 12;

FIG. 15 shows a similar embodiment intended for use with a round sliceof lemon, lime or orange;

FIG. 16 shows a lemon wedge enclosed in a sprayed on, dipped on orshrunk on plastic coating;

FIG. 17 is a cross sectional view along the line 17 17 of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of a plastic envelope, with a plasticseal, for enclosing the fruit to be squeezed; and

FIG. 19 is a further embodiment of the plastic envelope of FIG. 18.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the squeezer consists of twointegrally connected semi-circular plastic parts 1 and 2, connectedtogether by an integral hinge 3. Handles 4 and 5 permit the parts 1 and2 to be closed together around the hinge 3 which is provided withopenings 3;: through which the juice from the fruit can flow when theparts 1 and 2 are squeezed together on a slice of fruit such asa lemonwedge 6.

The part 1 is provided with a semi-circular rim la against which theback of the lemon wedge 6 rests and part 2 is provided with a raisedportion 2a which enters the lemon wedge inside the rind 6a and squeezesagainst the pulp of the fruit when the sections 1 and 2 are squeezedtogether as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. The rims 1a and 2b surroundthe wedge 6 and prevent the juice being squeezed out from the rear orsides of the squeezer. By virtue of the integral plastic hinge 3 and thefact that the parts 1 and 2'can be opened as is illustrated in FIGS. 1and 2, this embodiment of the lemon squeezer may be readily cleaned bysteam cleaning, plunging it into warm water or other cleaning solutionand the device re-used if desired. It can also be made cheaply enoughfor discarding after a single use if desired.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, the two sections 10 and11 are connected together by an integral plastic hinge 12 and areadapted to take a round section or slice of citrus fruit 13 forsqueezing betweenthe sections 10 and 11. The section 10 is provided witha hole 10a through which the juices flow out and thesection 11 isprovided with a raised portion 11a which squeezes against the pulpsection of the fruit slice 13 to squeeze the juice from it. Theoverlapping rims 10b and 11b surround the fruit slice 13 and prevent thejuices from escaping around the rims of the squeezer. Handles 10c. andpermit the squeezer to be squeezed together between the thumb and fingeras indicated by the arrows 14 in FIG. 7.

FIG. 8 illustrates a substantially rectangular envelope of cellophane,Saran wrap or other food-grade plastic 15 adapted to receive a citrusfruit wedge 6b in substantially the middle of the envelope 15. After thewedge 6b is inserted in the envelope, the flaps 15a and 15b are foldedover to provide a wedge-shaped construction as illustrated in FIG. 11,which prevents the fruit juice from being squeezed out of the top of theenvelope or enclosure 15, after which, the lemon or orange wedge 6b issqueezed between the thumb and finger 16 and 16a as illustrated in FIG.11, to discharge the juice through the opening 17 formed in the bottomof the envelope 15.

FIG. 12 illustrates a similar envelope 18 provided with a pressureclosing seal 19 to prevent the juice of the wedge of citrus fruit fromescaping upwardly from the envelope 18. A hole 19a in the bottom of theenvelope permits juice from the fruit wedge 6b to drip into a beverageor onto a portion of food to be served. FIG. 12a illustrates a modifiedtype of juice discharge opening in which an opening 19b is formed with aremovable tab closure which can be removed by pulling the tab 19d whenthe juice from a wedge 6b is to be squeezed out.

FIG. 14 shows a detail of the pressure closing seal '19, and FIG. 13 isa side view of the envelope of FIG. 12, showing the lemon wedge 6binside the sealed envelope in position to be squeezed between the thumband finger to cause the juice to flow through the opening 19a or 19b. 7

FIG. 15 shows an envelope enclosure 20 essentially similar to thatdescribed in connection with FIG. 8, adapted to receive a round slice oflemon, lime or orange 21 from which the juice is squeezed through theopening 204 after the top of the envelope is closed, as described inconnection with FIG. 1 l.

FIG. 16 shows a wedge of citrus fruit 6b which has been dipcoated orsprayed with a self-congealing coating or shrink wrap 25 of a food-gradeplastic, such as polypropylene, cellophane or the like, so that thewedge is completely surrounded by the tightly adhering plastic coating25. After the wedge 6b has been completely surrounded by theself-congealing plastic coating or shrink wrap, a hole 26 is puncturedthrough the plastic and a temporary removable closure 26a having a pulltab 26b is placed over this hole. When the juice is to be squeezed fromthe wedge 6b sealed in the plastic envelope 25, the seal 26a is removedfrom the opening by pulling the tab 26b and the wedge 6b inside theplastically sealed closure is squeezed to discharge the juice into abeverage or onto food from the hole 26, whereupon the sealed wedgetogether with the covering is discarded. The embodiment of FIG. 16permits wedges or slices of citrus fruits to be completely enclosed inan airproof plastic container and protects the sliced citrus fruit wedgeor round section from contact with the hands or the atmosphere until itis served in the manner described above. This embodiment of theinvention is particularly adapted for use in bars or restaurants wherethe citrus fruit wedge is protected from contamination from theatmosphere or from the bartenders hands until the juice is squeezed intothe drink being served.

The sliced fruit can be enclosed in the plastic container illustrated inFIG. 16 at a central factory and sold to bars, restaurants or the like,so that slicing on the premises is no longer necessary and the juicefrom the citrus fruit can be served without contact with the users handsand without danger of it squirting in undesired directions.

FIGS. 18 and 19 illustrate a citrus fruit wedge 6b enclosed in a plasticenvelope 27 provided witha pressure closing seal 19 similar to thatillustrated in FIG. 14. A hole 26 is formed in the envelope 27 and apull tab closure 26a seals the hole 26 until the juice is to be squeezedfrom the wedge 6b. At this time, the pull tab closure is removed, thejuice is squeezed out through the opening 26 and the plastic envelope 27with the wedge 6b inside is discarded, without the hands coming incontact with the wedge 6b.

The squeezers illustrated also prevent the slices of cut citrus fruitfrom slipping out of the hands of the user and dropping into the teacup, glass or onto the tablecloth, etc.

While certain embodiments of my invention have been illustrated, it willbe understood that other embodiments and those specifically illustratedmay be used within the spirit of my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. As a product of manufacture, a cut piece of fruit from which juicecan be squeezed, enclosed in a one piece plastic container having aplastic hinge member integrally connecting two semi-circular plasticparts, each having a semi-circular rim around the outer semi-circularportion thereof, one of said parts having a semi-circular raised portionwith walls parallel to one of said semi-circular rims to enter the cutpiece of fruit inside the rind, the semi-circular rim on the othersemi-circular part, entering the channel formed between said parallelparts to prevent backflow of the fruit juice, protruding plastic handlesoutside said rims, and a juice squeezing opening in said plastic hingemember.

2. The product of claim 1, in which the juice squeezing opening isprovided with a removable temporary seal.

1. As a product of manufacture, a cut piece of fruit from which juicecan be squeezed, enclosed in a one piece plastic container having aplastic hinge member integrally connecting two semicircular plasticparts, each having a semi-circular rim around the outer semi-circularportion thereof, one of said parts having a semi-circular raised portionwith walls parallel to one of said semi-circular rims to enter the cutpiece of fruit inside the rind, the semi-circular rim on the othersemi-circular part, entering the channel formed between said parallelparts to prevent backflow of the fruit juice, protruding plastic handlesoutside said rims, and a juice squeezing opening in said plastic hingemember.
 2. The product of claim 1, in which the juice squeezing openingis provided with a removable temporary seal.